Austin Reaches 2% Cycling Rate 3 Years Early

The City of Austin has reached an important milestone ahead of schedule. Austin's Bicycle and Urban Trails Program, which has a goal of getting 5% of Austin transit trips to be bicycle by the year 2020 also had an interim goal of 2% of trips by 2015. Well, the 2012 report is out and Austin has reached that first goal 3 years ahead of schedule. With a number of projects in the pipeline coming to fruition this year the city is poised to roll that number up at an accelerated rate.

Some key metrics and notes from the report.

An average of 30 linear miles of new and improved bicycle lanes per year.

“Complete Streets” have been implemented on over 50 street corridors in the last 5 years.

Bicycle Defensive Driving Courses, the Austin Bright Cyclists Campaign, and the “Talks with the Chief” series developed in concert with the Austin Police Department and Municipal Court system.

This year, cycle tracks on Rio Grande Boulevard and Bluebonnet Lane were implemented, and portions of Barton Springs Road are under construction now.

Even more important will be a number of programs coming online in 2013.

Bike Share will come to Austin in 2013, possibly the most visible and effective single step to growing the percent of cycling trips in Austin and expanding it to a new class of users.

Using grant funds, preparing to amend the the City Bicycling Plan to align with the newly adopted Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan, re-thinking our bicycle network to include more protected facilities or “cycle-tracks” geared towards attracting the “Interested But Concerned” type of bicyclist.

The start of a planning process to create an Urban Trails Master Plan in concert with the Public Works Department.

Through the Green Lane Project, a two-year project positions Austin with five other cities (San Francisco, DC, Portland, Memphis, and Chicago) to create a protected bicycle lane network. Austin will also build the Lance Armstrong Bikeway 3rd Street segment, and facilities within the Mueller Development as part of the two-year effort.

Read the full report below the fold for more details on the exciting developments coming to Austin in the coming year and consider joining Bike Austin (formerly the League of Bicycling Voters) which is actively engaging on many of these issues and plans to aggressively grow its membership this year.